Veteran Deepti Sharma produced a scintillating all-round effort, including her maiden fifer in the shortest format, to inspire India to a 14-run win over South Africa in the fourth women’s T20I here on Saturday.
South Africa had already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead into the match and looked set to extend the run after restricting India to 185 for five.
But Deepti (5/19), who played a big role in taking India past the 180-run mark with an unbeaten 36, grabbed crucial wickets in the middle stages to prevent SA’s run and restricted them to 171 for nine.
South Africa vs India Women’s 4th T20I: Highlights | Scorecard
South Africa raised the challenge through Sune Luus (40) and Tazmine Brits (30) who added 54 runs for the second wicket. But once Deepti covered Luus, India were all over the home side like a bad rash.
Luus seriously threatened to make it big after skipper Laura Wolvaardt was earlier beaten by pacer Kranti Goud.
Apart from Luus, off-spinner Deepti also dismissed Annerie Dercksen, hit Kayla Reyneke, Tumi Sekha and Ayabonga Khaka to break the SA batting line-up.
Earlier, the Indian batsmen failed to build on their starts against a disciplined set of SA bowlers who posted a slightly below-par 185 for five.
After being sent in to bat, India got off to a shaky start, losing Shafali Verma to Eliz Marx, while Anushka Sharma, who came in for the rested Smriti Mandhana, slipped to 23.
India were 47 for two at the end of the Power Play segment and needed to move on without losing any more damage.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (22) and Jemimah Rodrigues (43) did just that, adding 55 runs for the third wicket in just over six overs.
Rodrigues was particularly impressive in smashing spinner Nonkhu Mlaba for 24 runs in the 11th over over a run sequence that read 4, 2, 6, 6, 2, 4.
Two consecutive sixes right over the bowler’s head was a treat.
But just as India were gathering momentum, Rodrigues, who was dismissed for 18, failed to connect to sweep off-spinner Reyneke and lost his stumps.
Harmanpreet also looked a million dollars as he smashed a six against Marx and a four against Chloe Tryon, but Reyneke found the Indian skipper’s outside edge which plucked Sinalo Jafta behind the wickets.
Deepti (36 not out, 26 balls) and Richa Ghosh (34 not out, 18 balls) added 65 runs for the sixth wicket but could not always put their feet on the pedal and hit the gas.
But in the last five overs, the pair managed to score 56 runs to give their bowlers something to play for.
– The end
Issued by:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published on:
26 Apr 2026 01:34 IST
